Furniture construction



Nov. 14, 1961 H. F. OSBORNE FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fild Feb. 20, 1959 INVENTOR HAROLD F. OSBORNE ATTORNEYS Nov. 14, 1961 H. F. OSBORNE FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 20, 1959 INVENTR. HAROLD F. OSBORNE ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofilice 3,008,782 Patented Nov. 14, 1961 3,008,782 FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Harold F. Osborne, Star Rte. 1, Chehalis, Wash. Filed Feb. 20, 1959, Ser. No. 794,726 1 Claim. (Cl. 311-35) The present invention relates to furniture construction and particularly to furniture of the type assembled from a diagram by the purchaser of pro-cut materials.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a novel furniture construction which includes pre-cut materials which come in the form of rectangular sticks used in the assembling of furniture. Some of the sticks have two corners rounded, and other of the sticks have one corner rounded. All of these various sticks are of the same length, but in some instances they may be cut to a shorter length in the structure of the furniture, depending upon the requirements of the structure being fabricated. The sticks are marketed in bundles or packages, together with a diagram or chart for assembling various pieces of furniture therefrom, such as an end table, smoking stand, coffee table, chair, ironing board and so forth.

One of the outstanding objects of the invention is to provide a structure wherein the sticks of material are assembled and fastened together by finishing nails, glue, or the like, forming a very rigid assembly of furniture.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a retractable ball caster mounted in the lower ends of the legs of the furniture so that the same can be moved about readily, or can be solidly located by retracting the caster ball within the legs.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the following specification when considered in light of the attached drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a typical coffee table, parts broken away for convenience of illustration;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View, taken on line 22 of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, illustrating the retractable ball caster support in its operating position;

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the structure shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of an end table, parts broken away for convenience of illustration;

FIGURE 5 is an exploded perspective view of one of the upper corners of the table shown in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is an exploded perspective view of the structure of the intermediate shelving shown in FIG- URE 4;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary plan view partially broken away of the structure shown in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 7 of a modified structure for connecting the top of a table to its supporting legs;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of the three different types of sticks used in the structure of my new and improved furniture.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference characters indicate like pants throughout the several figures, the reference character E indicates generally an end table incorporating the invention.

The end table E includes a top T, an intermediate shelf S, a lower shelf S, all being connected together in spaced parallel relation by the fabricated legs L.

Referring to FIGURE 9, there is illustrated a stick 10 made in rectangular cross section, a stick 11 of rectangular cross section, having two longitudinal corners rounded, and a stick 12 of rectangular cross section, having one longitudinal corner rounded, with the sticks 10, 11 and 12 of the same length.

The legs L are formed from the rectangular stick 10 and the rounded corner stick 11. First the upper ends of the stick 10A is connected together by the horizontally disposed rectangular sticks 10B. The upper end 13 of the sticks 10A extend above the sticks 10B a suflicient distance to receive the trim sticks 12A. The upper ends 14 of the sticks 11A abut against the under edge of the horizontally disposed sticks 10B, while the lower ends 15 of the sticks 11A extend downwardly below the lower ends 16 of the sticks 10A a sufiicient distance to embrace the upper ends 17 of the rectangular sticks 10C, and to receive the horizontally disposed sticks 10H for supporting the shelf S.

The sticks are brought into place under the ends 15 of the sticks 11A at their upper end, and extend below the lower ends 10D of the sticks 10C for receiving the horizontally disposed shelf supporting sticks 10E. All of the sticks are glued or nailed together, forming sdlid supporting legs.

Referring particularly to FIGURES 4 and 7, a rectangular horizontal stick 101 is secured to the upper extending end 13 of the sticks 10A on their inner sides. The sticks 101 provide a support for the horizontally disposed rectangular sticks 10F forming the top T of the table E. The sticks 10I run only transversely of the assembly in one direction. The trim sticks 12A extend slightly above the sticks 10F, providing a rim therearound for preventing objects from sliding off the top T.

The shelf S consists of horizontally disposed rectangular strips 10G which rest upon the horizontally disposed strips v10H. Trim sticks 12B are secured to the inner sides of the legs L, providing a back stop extending above the shelf S for maintaining objects thereon.

The lower shelf S consists of the sticks 10] which are supported upon horizontally disposed sticks 10E and also have upwardly extending trim stick 12C for providing a back stop extending above the shelf S.

Referring to FIGURES 2 and 3, the lower ends 10D of the sticks 10C are centrally notched out, as indicated at 18. The notches 18 are adapted to receive the ball 19, after which a plate 20 is fixedly secured to the bottom of the leg L by the screws 21. The plate 20 has an opening 22 central-1y thereof somewhat smaller than the ball 19. This allows the ball '19 to drop down below the plate 20, but prevents the same from passing through the opening 22.

A removable pin 23 is fastened in the leg L in a position to pass over the top of the ball 19, referring to FIGURE 2, holding the lower side of the ball 19 down beyond the bottom of the leg L so that the weight of the table can be carried on the ball 19, the ball 19 rolling within the notch .18 and under the pin 23 when it is desired to move the table about. When it is desired to cause the table to remain in one location, the pin 23 can be removed, allowing the ball 19 to retract within the notch 18, bringing the bottom of the leg L down directly in cont-act with the supporting surface.

The structure C illustrated in FIGURE 1 is a coffee table. The legs L of the coffee table C consist of rectangular stick 10K, having the sticks 11E secured thereto, all sticks being of the same length. Next, horizontally disposed sticks 10L are secured to the upper ends of the legs L and horizontally disposed trim sticks 12F are secured to the edges and ends of the sticks 10L, securing the assembly together.

The top of the table C consists of horizontally disposed sticks 10M resting upon the sticks 10L. 'Ihe sticks 10M forming the tops and shelving of the table C may be replgtced with panels such as plywood boards, when de- Sll'C Horizontally disposed sticks 10P connect all legs L together, as well as the horizontally disposed sticks 12]),

also the sticks 11F join the sticks 10P together forming the semi-shelf arrangement.

There are many combinations of assembling the above sticks 10, 11 and 12 together "in order to arrive at a completed piece of furniture, but the principle of the invention is to provide these sticks of the same general length and assemble them in a manner to complete the furniture from the directions given in a diagram or chart. The combination, as stated above, may vary in many respects, still carrying out the objects of my invention.

Having thus described the preferred embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A knockdown table comprising an upper and lower frame, supporting base members fixedly positioned to the inner side of both longitudinal sides of said upper frame, surface members extending between said frame members and fixedly attached to said supporting base members to form a table surface, a plurality of supporting legs, said lower frame comprising a plurality of members extending longitudinally to the table, at least one of said members attached to the outer surface of said legs to form part of the lower frame, and a plurality of cross members extending between and fixedly attached to said legs, said plurality of legs attached to the lower surface of said table, one of said legs positioned at each corner of said table and an additional leg positioned intermediate said corner legs on both longitudinal sides of said table, each of said legs comprising a center stick of rectangular cross section being formed of two spaced apart sections of substantially the same length, two outer sticks of the same transverse Width and substantially of the same length, each outer stick having its two adjacent outer corners rounded defining a space whereby a transverse stick provided with its end fitting snugly in the space between said stick and adhesively secured thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 391,013 Bo-gardus Oct. 16, 1888 424,467 Dalrymple Apr. 1, 1890 1,538,393 Fowler May 19, 1925 1,832,801 Wright Nov. 17, 1931 2,033,510 Brayley Mar. 10, 1936 2,176,551 Solem Oct. 17, 1939 2,383,449 Clark Aug. 28, 1945 2,403,338 Butler July 2, 1946 2,488,301 Lundstrom Nov. 15, 1949 2,702,222 Pulse et a1 Feb. 15, 1955 2,767,420 Riccio Oct. 23, 1956 2,796,307 Knoll June 18, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 510,459 Great Britain Aug. 2, 1939 

